Friday, November 30, 2012

I have a confession to make here. I think I have new addiction! Cam-whoring.

It means "To take pictures of either you or/and with your friends execessively". And sometimes I think I were over-doing it too. Lol!

When I was younger. I loved to take photographs, either I were the subject or behind the lens. After I have kids, my kids are my models. I seldom take pictures of myself since then.

And I think my addiction came back after I got my new Samsung Galaxy III few months ago. Cam-whoring is so much easier with Samsung Galaxy and I enjoyed taking photographs with it. Some more my kids are not around lately, so I have no one to take pictures, ended up I take pictures of myself. But don't fret. I only take when I am in full clothing. *wink*

Have a great weekend guys! So look forward to the month of December. December, the month of joy!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

My Princess' room wardrobe with her favourite dolls and toys in one corner. Also keep her kindergarden's certificate and trophies she had won.

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Baby Jay's room with his toys corner. Not a lot because mostly are sealed in boxes. Too many that I do not think we have enough spaces to display them all. And I cannot imagine all those dusting and cleaning I have to do if everything is up on the shelves.

Our family hall in the upper floor. Suppose to be a tv hall for the kids but since we have not yet get sofa for the hall, I am turning it into multi-purpose corner. For ironing purpose.

All our books, DVD albums and photo albums are kept in the shelves in this hall.

Come to look at them, look like we do not have enough spaces to keep our things! Lol!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Invited my staff and sis for dinner in Happy Valley (opposite Crowne Square) on Sunday night. It has been ages since I went to Happy Valley. Used to enjoy its bbq lamb. And it still the same tasty bbq meat! Glad that the food still taste the same although I could not recognised Happy Valley on Sunday night when we reached there.

It changes a lot. They upgraded the place 5 years ago. The last time I were there was before I had my first child. And recently they added new feature to the place. A pub-theme seating area for sports lovers. Still, it is children friendly and the atmosphere is very nice and cooling during the night.﻿

The view from my seat. A lot of people sitting at the parlor across us. Different ambiance I guess. Next round I would want to sit there.

The super delicious and tender BBQ lamb. The grilling kitchen is just in front of us so we can see the kitchen assistant grilling the lamb.

Our dinner costs RM63.00 including drinks. Not expensive and my 2 dinner companions cannot stop complimenting the good service and good food especially the BBQ lamb. Their first time to Happy Valley and glad that they enjoyed their food.

Me and my 2 lovely dinner companions

One thing I like about Happy Valley is that it opens daily. No off day! Of course they only rest on CNY.

Monday, November 26, 2012

I know it is Monday today. Most people would be having Monday Blues after 2 rest days. Not for me! *wink* Because I see TURQUOISE instead!

Over the weekend I were experimenting with colours again. This time with one of my favourite colours. Turquoise. I love this lovely combination colour of green and blue.

Nothing extravagant. Just something fun and lively to look at. Use sheer polish with blue glitters. Then paint turqouise colour on the tip of the nails. Dab some white colour lightly on the wet turqouise colours with toothpick or unused eye liner﻿. Once the colours have dried up, paint coat polish on nails.

Like it?

I found a very useful nail polish remover wipes! Cost less than RM5.00 per pack with 30 pieces in it. And it comes with few scents and I choose apple as my wipes. Cute right???

It cleans and removes the nail polish effectively and even moisture my nails. No strong smell at all.﻿

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Sent hubby off to Kuching Airport this morning, he was catching a flight to KL for a meeting in Port Dickson for 2 days. Since no one is at home as the kids are not around, I would be staying over with my family for 2 nights. My house is too quiet at night and I do not like the feeling of being alone. Not that I have a phobia of being home alone, but I still not used to my house although have been staying here for nearly 2 months now.

When we stayed in BDC, the area was rather lively at night. Neighbours can be seen loitering outside the house, noises from the tv etc. But in my current neighbourhood, it is rather quiet. Too quiet to my liking. It is like everyone retire early and no sounds from surrounding houses. And sometimes I heard noises in the cabinet etc. Or maybe I am dreaming?

I think staying over with my family is a good choice. Near to the shop and save my time and petrol.

Got to go now. Need to go to shop as one staff is not coming, on sick leave.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

It is weekend again! Cooking time! Made Hakka Stuffed Tofu which I love so much. I can eat few pieces of the tofu. I prefer the fried ones than the steamed tofu.

Ingredients:

Minced meat with fat
4 pieces of Tofu, cut diagonally into half
6 Chinese mushrooms, soaked and stem taken off
Dried prawns, washed and soaked
Pepper and salt to taste

Methods:

1. Chop the washed Chinese mushrooms into smaller pieces. Chop dried prawns into smaller pieces.
2. Combine minced meat, mushroom and dried prawns. Chop and mix them well.
3. Add salt and pepper to the mixed meat mixture and mix them well.
4. Use a chopstick, cut the tofu in the centre on the cut side to make a slit. Wash your hands clean. With your hand, insert some meat mixture into the slit. Press the meat into the slit.
5. Repeat all the 8 pieces of tofu. Any balance meat mixture, roll them into meat balls.

6. Heat up the oil in the wok. When it is hot, turn to low heat. Add in the tofu one by one. Turn to the other side when the tofu is turning golden at the bottom (about 4 minutes). Dish up when the meat mixture has turn golden brown. Fry the meat balls (if any) until they are cooked.
7. Serve with lettuces wrapped around the tofu or any dipping of your choices. I prefer chilli sauces

Thursday, November 22, 2012

I seldom buy DVD. Mostly hubby bought all the DVDs from his friend's shop. RM10 for 3 DVDs. So one night while he was choosing "Total Recall" DVD, there were no other DVD that attracted him. So I chosen "Ted" and "The Odd Life of Timothy Green".﻿

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When I read the description of the Timothy Green and Jennifer Garner is in the movie, I wanted to watch it immediately. It was worth watching and I really enjoy the story line. If you are wondering what this movie is all about, then this is a little description for you:

Disney brings enchantment home with The Odd Life Of Timothy Green, an inspiring, magical story for the whole family starring Jennifer Garner. Cindy (Garner) and Jim Green are a happily married couple who can't wait to start a family but can only dream about what their child would be like. When young Timothy shows up on their doorstep one stormy night, Cindy and Jim - and their small town of Stanleyville - learn that sometimes the unexpected can bring some of life's greatest gifts.

At first, it tells the painful part of a childless couple (which happen in real life) and how they wanted their child to be. Like few friends of mine who have no children. They envy the other friends that have children. With no choices, they have to go for adoption. It may not be the same as having your own, but I believe with good environment and love, adopted children can be great like any other children.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

I was having breakfast with my mum this morning and suddenly my mum told me a story of a friend. It was rather funny but not to self-judge other people's action, I let you decide for yourself.

This male friend came to my mum's shop few days ago and asked my mum is she ready for the 21 December phenomenon. I guess I no need t o tell you, you would know what is this phenomenon all about. The NASA predicted total blackout and may stretched for 3 days or so. So this friend of my mum told my mum that he has brought a lot of kerosene, food, canned food, mineral waters and crackers to be stored for the phenomenon. And my mum being a very straight-forward lady, just replied him "Why need to store? If really the end of the world, the most is we all go together. We have company."

The the male friend continued to advise my mum to keep stock. My mum replied him what happened if nothing happened and all my stock turns expired or rotten??

Funny when think of my mum's reply. I never knew some people are so afraid of such prediction or rather, uncertainty and death. Well, what ever happens on that day, I do not know but I know that I have loved ones with me and I am not alone to confront anything in front of me.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

I woke up very early on Sunday. Around 7am. Must be having a good sleep on Saturday I was very energetic on Sunday morning. I asked hubby whether he would like to go to Satok market since he was also awake. He agreed so we headed out from the house before 8am.

We stopped by the kolok mee stall in Green Road and have our breakfast. Our RM8.10 breakfast consisting of 2 bowl of kolok mee and a bowl of kiaw (wanton) soup.﻿ They used to serve the little soft drink bottle (we called it "pop drink") but they no longer do so now.

﻿After the breakfast we went to Satok for its Sunday market. It has been more than 5 years since I stepped into Satok Sunday market. That time hubby was operating his textile shop in Satok and every weekend we would walk the market. But that was before I have my first child. So with much disappointment we discovered that the market was no longer in Satok. Sigh! Can blame myself for been not well informed and did not read local newspaper. Lol!

Satok Sunday market has moved to Petra Jaya to a new centre which is situated next to Kubah Ria. Nice or not??

We headed to the new Satok market which cost RM47M but nothing was there. After checking out the online news it said that it would be in operation next year. All Satok traders would be moved to the new centre which consisting of 4 blocks that can accommodate 1900 stalls. So, I wonder where all the traders in Satok go while waiting for this market to be in occupation??

Well, since there was no Sunday market, hubby suggested we drive to Batu Kawa-Bau road﻿ to buy some fresh vegetables from a vegetable stall on the roadside. So our 30 minutes road drive to Batuk Kawa-Bau road was fruitful because I bought 2 bunches of water convolvulus (kangkung), a plastic full of purple yam, kacang ma leaves and green vegetables. All for RM15.00. I like to buy from the stall because the farm is nearby and they pick the vegetables straight from the farm and sell on the spot.

As for our lunch, I prepared beef stew. Hubby insisted on adding beef tendon in the stew so I have to accommodate his request. Lol! Actually my first trial cooking beef dish. I do not fancy beef that much other than beef burger so cooking a beef stew is a tough assignment to me. But glad the stew turned out good.

I bought sliced beef instead of beef chunks because sliced beef cooked faster than beef chunks. So if you are interested to try this beef and tendon stew ala Rose' recipe, you are most welcome. Mine does not taste too flavorish, just nice for my tastebud. And hubby also gave a thumb up to my first attempt on beef stew. *happy*

Monday, November 19, 2012

I am getting forgetful. Sometimes I can forget one thing while doing other chore. For instance on Saturday evening, I was cooking chicken stew. Let it simmer on the stove and suppose to check it after 10 minutes, but I was busy in the living room and have forgotten about it.

And when I did remember I almost burnt my dish! The water dried up but fortunately it still can be saved. So guys, presenting my nearly burnt chicken stew. You can see the carrots and chicken pieces have black marks on them, but they still taste good when discard the burnt parts. Lol!﻿ My chicken with dried mushrooms and carrots stew.

And after dinner, while we were watching television, suddenly a mouse caught my eye. From the tv cabinet running to the fridge. Oh dear! The little thing managed to go into the living room.

Actually noticed it for the first time a week ago when we had a big blackout in Kuching last Sunday. It was in the kitchen that time. And we took necessary action to make sure the kitchen door is closed at all time, to prevent it from going into the dining room and living room. But somehow it managed to squeeze in.

So we immediately bought some mouse glue traps and a mouse trap on Saturday night to trap it down. The mouse must be hungry because it was caught in the mouse cage instead. Or the cuttlefish attracted it.

We placed few of this mouse glue around ﻿the trap to prevent it from escaping. But they were not used so we shall keep them for next use.

The caught mouse also left behind some shits and pee. So after cleaning the area, I need to disinfect my mop. Heard that mouse residues are very poisonous to human beings. ﻿

This is the little culprit. Hahaha! We were too eager to catch the mouse that we did not bother to peel off the price tag on the cage. Lol! It was a baby mouse and after left under the hot sun, it did not survive for till noon time. RIP little mouse.

Friday, November 16, 2012

My hubby enjoys food very much. That what make him a big man. Lol! He eats almost everything yet he is very particular when it comes to food. Must be too his liking and mood. Sometimes it is hard to satisfy him.﻿ Certain food I enjoy, he does not like it.

For instance, I craved for porridge for breakfast. I missed those canned black bean fishes, prickled greens, fermented bean curd and salted egg. Those simple condiments make a bowl of white porridge flavourish and super delicious.

When I told hubby that I wanted to cook white porridge, he told me he would only eat white porridge with century eggs, salted eggs and chay poh egg. So to make him happy, I cooked all the 3 eggs for breakfast in the morning!

Of course we did not finished up all the eggs. Otherwise I think my hubby would have higher cholesterol reading after this. Lol!

My staff made and brought some wrapped glutinous rice for us to taste last night. First time I saw this cute zhang. Actually she meant to use the pandan leaves but she could not find them, so last minute she used pitcher plant as the wrappers. Creative huh?﻿

﻿Taste the same like zhang because she insert a bit of pandan leaf on each wrapper. Mini sized zhang so not too filling. Just nice. And I ate a lot too last night. *wink*

Thursday, November 15, 2012

This is what we get when some dumb and inconsiderate people do not care about other people' wellfare. Even after complaining, ﻿no one bother about the dirts and dust caused. And what do boards built half-way done good to the surrounding tenants? Shouldnt the boards been constructed all the way up to the ceiling and covering the affected area?

They are currently hacking off the ceiling and top floor cement to shift the existing escalator. So all those asbestos, and debris are flying around the building. And my shop is just situated right in front of the escalator. Sigh!

I am having skin and eyes allergy now. I never have much skin and eyes allergy problem before, but since the renovation started a couple of weeks ago, I developed eyes irritation and itchy skin. Luckily nothing serious although I cannot wear my contact lenses for few days due to the eye irritation. And need to wear face mask around, or I would be breathing dust into my body. Yikes!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

I am excited that I am going to be a full-time mom next month. It is going to be a new experience for me as I know taking care of my family and house is a big responsibility. Nothing come easy.

But thanks to mom forum, I am now learning more skills and techniques when it comes to managing my household. I enjoy its forum on food and cooking. I learnt a lot of interesting stuff about cooking techniques and how to use some ingredients and herbs that I never tried before. You can say that my cooking has improved a lot and hubby also giving a thumb up to my dishes. It makes my day to see that my family enjoying my cooking and it makes me want to cook and experience more in food. I am not saying that I am a food expert but cooking for my family is very satisfying.

I also participate in its home improvement forum where I learnt some gardening tips and home decoration ideas. I have been planting some potted flowers and herbs for few weeks. Slowly my mini garden is growing and when they do, I will share some pictures with you. Now too shy to show you my products. *wink*

Another great forum that I enjoyed is its parenting general which concentrate on parenting. There are a lot of experienced parents out there and I am glad to know that some parents are voicing up their concern and also have almost similar problems like I do. It gives me some insight although each of us have different way of parenting. No one is right or wrong here, but I learnt and improved my relationship with both kids. My eldest are more willing to talk to me now on almost everything. As for my younger child, he is learning better and can converse more now. He is more than happy to play with other kids unlike one year ago.

So for new parents especially moms, you can drop by mom forum and learn almost everything in the forum. It helps me a lot. I know I would be frequenting the forum more next month because some are becoming my friends and giving me good advices. I know I would not be bored when I am staying at home.

We had a very late night on Saturday since the kids were not around. You can said, both hubby and myself were having a great time without the kids. Lol!

We opened up a bottle of chivas while having a movie marathon. We watched 3 movies that night in the comfort of our living room while having some coke chivas. We watched "Tin Tin", "Super 8" and "Taken". Till after midnight. Seldom slept that late, so I was a bit light headed heading to bed.

I was about to dozed off﻿ when suddenly hubby came knocking at the bedroom door. Knowing that I didnt lock the door and he was having a cigarette in one of the bathrooms which is outside our room. So why was he knocking at the door?

Gosh! The door knob was jammed! We had a problem with my girl's bedroom door knob too few days ago but luckily after few jamming and pushing, I managed to open her room door without further damage. Now this round it was our bedroom door. With hubby outside and I were in the room, we tried to open the door but in vain. With no choice, hubby had to hammer down the knob. So you can imagine the noise in the middle of the night although hubby tried to keep the noise to minimal level.

After more than an hour, the knob was taken off and we got a big hole on our door! It was almost 1.30am by then. Both of us were too tired and slept till 9am on Sunday morning and were late for our church mass. Lol!

We decided to change all the door knobs before any of us get locked out (or in) again!

Monday, November 12, 2012

It is darling hubby's birthday today. Since it is a working day, we celebrated his birthday a day earlier yesterday. My dad invited us to dinner last night for double birthday celebration. My god-brother's birthday fall yesterday so we have his family together with ours for a Chinese dinner in Courtyard Restaurant, Jalan Petanak.﻿

So I cooked lunch at home yesterday. Ala Western. Pan-fried lamb shoulder, mashed potatoes and egg and cherry tomatoes salad.

Pan-fried lamb shoulder

I marinated the lamb shoulders with salt, black pepper and worcestershire sauce for an hour. Then pan-fry them for few minutes till the shoulders were done. Keep the juices from all those frying for its sauces.

Lamb steak sauce

Chopped few cloves of garlic and sliced 2 shallots. Chopped 1-2 celery stalks and a carrot. Heat up a wok and add 2 tbsp oil. Added garlic and shallots into the wok and saute till fragrant before add celery and carrot with the juices from the lamb earlier. After the vegetable almost cooked, add some water. Let it simmers. Then added 1 tbsp of butter, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp oyster sauce and dashes of black pepper. Let it simmer for 1-2 minutes then sieve the sauces into a bowl. Spooned few spoons of sauce onto the lamb shoulder before serve. As for the vegetables, you can eat them or keep for other vegetable dish.

Cherry tomatoes and eggs salad

Washed the cherry tomatoes and lettuces. Chopped the lettuces into small pieces. Sliced the boiled 2 eggs. Added cherry tomatoes, lettuces and eggs into a bowl. Added few tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, few dashes of black vinegar and few pinch of salt. Mixed well and chilled before serving.

Mashed potatoes

Peeled and cut potatoes before add into a boiled water in a pot. Added 1 tsp of salt into the boiled water. Let the potatoes cooked till it is soften. Took the potatoes out from the hot water and slowly mashed the potatoes with fork. Add 2 - 3 tbsp butter, half cup of low fat milk and few pinches of salt into the mashed potatoes. Depends on how you want your mashed potatoes to be. Mixed them well.

Our ala Western lunch for the birthday man!

After our dinner last night in Petanak, we went back to MJC to discover the whole MJC in the dark. That was before 9pm. Luckily we have our dinner without any interruption in Courtyard Restaurant but nearby shops were blackout.

So we had to drive and stop by H&L in 3rd Miles to get some candles and a touchlight. What a way to celebrate hubby's birthday. In the dark with candle light and hubby played his guitar. The electricity only came back around 11pm.

This morning around 8.10am, again no electricity in MJC. Some areas also affected but it was not that bad compared to last night which almost the entire Kuching was affected.﻿

Saturday, November 10, 2012

We have an early night last night as we attended my girl's graduation concert in MBKS which started at 7pm. When we reached there around 6.25pm, the auditorium was packed with family members of the students.

So yesterday I cooked dinner early. SIL came on Thursday night and brought some okana (black olives) from Sibu. Since hubby loves okana, I soaked some okana in hot water and add a spoonful of sugar and few dashes of black soy sauce on the cooked okana.﻿

I fried some fish pieces I bought from the MJC market. And cooked pork belly with sour mustard and stir fried small cabbages. I think I overcooked because we cannot finished all the dishes. So going to eat them again for lunch today. Lol!﻿

After her graduation night, my girl complained she was hungry. Must be too much dancing from her. So we went to one of the coffee shops in MJC and had our kolo mee supper. By then it was almost 1030pm.

Everyone was tired and after a warm shower both kids and hubby dozed off while I did some last minute packing for kids' holiday.

Woke up before 5am this morning, because the kids' flight is around 7.10am. After sending them off together with the kids' aunt, hubby and I went for our breakfast in McD which opens around 6.30am.

We tried to sleep but our neighbour was doing some works and make so much noise that we hardly can sleep. Well, maybe we are going to have an early night tonight.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

This has been going for 2 days and I do know how long I can stand them! The noise and dust! Gosh!

There are some major works to the escalator right in front of my shop. Shifting the direction of the escalator so now it is full of dust and noise (from the tiling works and dismantling of escalator) for the rest of the week over here. A big hole was dug up to the basement to accommodate the new escalator route. They even do works at night, so the noise is so overwhelming not to mention the dust because they do not bother to cover the area. I placed my 2 kids in my parents' house last night because I do not want them to expose to the dust and noise.

Now talking to customers also have to scream my lung out. Annoying. Not only me but my customers too. And I think I have a re-occuring sore throat. My throat has not fully recovered since last week.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Brought my young boy to register for next year enrolment in Q-Dees this morning. He is going to P1 next year. And as usual in his cheeky mood, he disturbed the lady in the office while I was busy filling the forms. The lady been courteous, handed over a piece of paper and pencil for him and ended up been tortured by Baby Jay to draw pictures for him. Lol! That is my boy. I am expecting his class teacher is having some problem with him in class.

You can say that Q-Dees is one of the expensive kindergardens around Kuching. For P1, it costs RM1796 for new students because you need to buy new sets of uniforms, stationery and other stuff for them. Per semester (3 months) costs less than RM1500.00. We will be coming back end of December to collect uniforms and stationery since the uniforms are not ready.

Luckily my girl is going to primary school next year. Otherwise cannot imagine the fees that we need to pay for both kids if they are going to the same kindergarden. Sigh!

Monday, November 5, 2012

With the leftover Loong Kee chicken floss﻿, I made some spring rolls yesterday afternoon. I used Popiah Skin and cut the big pieces into quarters.

It takes some times to assembly but it was fun. My step-by-step as follow:

Brush some egg wash on each sides and place a spoon of chicken floss on the top

Fold the sides with egg wash.

Brush egg wash on the bottom and roll tightly to the bottom.

The ready to be fried sping rolls

Need to be watchful when frying spring rolls because they tend to burn fast and even when you dig them out from the hot oil and on a kitchen paper towel, it will still turn browner. Dip with chili sauce or ketchup to your liking.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Saw a pack of unopened chicken floss yesterday afternoon. It was a gift from a client to hubby and we have not yet open and consume it. Maybe can add to porridge or add to my vegetable dishes. And then an idea suddenly came to my mind.

Why not make a burger out of it?? ﻿My own version. Bacons & Chicken Floss Burgers.

Just fry the bacon strips to your desire, but dont overcook it as they would be very hard to bite. Cut the buns into halves a﻿nd toast them for a while in frying pan (without oil). Butter the buns with some olive oil spread, then add lettuces, bacon strips and spoonful of chicken floss. As for hubby who cannot do without eggs in the morning, I add fried egg to his burger.

About Me

About life adventure, food and interesting events. Rose is the name I use as like the beautiful flower, I want to live life to the fullest, most colourful and meaningful. Kuching, Sarawak is where my heart is.